Trailblazer Read online

  “I looked myself, when I found the light. I know it looks fine.”

  Vetna squeezed her hand. “You've been through more than just physical trauma, Tally. Alone in the dark for almost two weeks with nothing but Rew's body, some of that time being towed by the Caruso. I'm amazed you're able to keep up a coherent conversation.” She shot the commander a pointed look.

  Hopl cleared his throat. “So let's get this clear; the VSCS Uma was doing a standard run from base to our outer boundary and you intercepted a signal.”

  Tally gathered he wanted a response, even though they'd gone over this twice already, so she nodded.

  “You encountered a ghost ship, with no discernible life forms, and you and four others, under the command of Lieutenant Bertrand, approached in a small inter-ship vessel.”

  Again, he looked at her, and she gave him the nod he required.

  “And then what?”

  “We couldn't get a lock on the ghost ship's access port, so Rew and myself suited up and went out on the line, to see why not.”

  “And what did you conclude?”

  She drew in a breath. “We had assumed it would be a standard ship access port, but it was completely alien to us. There was no compatibility with our own locking mechanisms. We relayed the information to the team, and Lt. Bertrand decided we'd clamp on beside the lock and go in manually.”

  “Did that make sense to you?” Hopl asked.

  Tally jerked her head up. “Yes. It was the only option I could see.”

  He grunted, settled back against the counter. “Continue.”

  She paused, her gaze on him. Was he trying to find a scapegoat for this? Trying to burn Bertie?

  Hopl made a sound of impatience, and she tightened her lips.

  “Rew and I got to work on opening the port while everyone else suited up, and just as we'd spun the lock mechanism and were about to lift it up, a Caruso small fighter crested the side of the ghost ship and opened fire.”

  She remembered the sudden laz fire, the brightness making her flinch away. Then the panicked look on Bertie's face from the door of the inter-ship vessel as it snapped closed just in time, as the laz fire danced over it seconds later.

  It was all intertwined with the cry Rew gave over the comms, her feeling of desperation as he fell, of her refusal to let him go, terrified he'd drift off into space, never to be found, as she heaved the port access open and pulled him in with her.

  And then the solid thunk of the Caruso attaching a line to the ship, and the creaks and groans as they shot away, far faster than the Raxian vessel, or even an explorer like the VSCS Uma could go.

  “Was Officer Rew dead when you got him into the ship?” Dr. Vetna asked.

  Tally nodded. “I hoped he was just injured. That he'd gone silent because he was unconscious, but he was dead. The laz fire caught him directly in the torso.” She looked over at Hopl. “What's going to happen now? The Caruso attacked us. Killed a Raxian officer.”

  Hopl's face, already hard to read, shuttered completely. “That's not something I'm at liberty to discuss at the moment.” He narrowed his eyes. “You haven't finished the debrief. The techs want to know how you worked out how to unclamp the ghost ship from the Caruso. Did you find a manual?”

  Tally stared at him. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  “Your fingerprints and tracks are clearly all over an area at the back of the ship where the Caruso attached their clamp. Looks like you detached that part of the ship. A whole section is gone. Given the speed they were going, suddenly losing the ghost ship weight would have turned the clamp cable into a whip. The techs assure me it would have damaged the Caruso warship. Chances are they either couldn't find you again by the time they'd dealt with the damage, or were so damaged they had to limp home, rather than go back for you.”

  “I . . . don't remember that.” She felt like a fool as she said it. She remembered the morning she'd woken up to the silence of the ship, the realization the Caruso were no longer towing her. How tired she'd been that day. Well, sounded like she'd been up all night.

  Hopl watched her, face tight.

  Did he think she was lying? Or crazy?

  “You don't remember any of it?” Vetna's voice was irritatingly gentle.

  Tally tried to mitigate the damage. “Vaguely. It's all so jumbled up.” She rubbed her forehead.

  “You're telling me you just guessed how to shear off part of the ship?”

  Tally lifted her gaze to Hopl's. “No. I'm saying I probably tried multiple things. Pushed every button I could, turned every lever. I didn't think I had much to lose.”

  Hopl's gaze cut to Vetna, but the doctor didn't say anything.

  She wet her lips. “Can you tell me when I'll be reinstated?”

  The doctor had just said she had bounced back well.

  Hopl scowled at her. “Not immediately. Someone goes through what you have, it's best to take a rest.”

  Dr. Vetna clucked her tongue at the commander in rebuke. “I'd hardly consider the Veltos Trail a rest, Dirk. It's mentally and physically challenging, but it is a break from the norm, and I think that's what Tally needs right now.”

  The Veltos Trail?

  Tally stared at the doctor in astonishment. “That's for soldiers who've been wounded in the line of duty.”

  Dr. Vetna nodded in agreement, her face serene.

  “But I haven't . . .”

  She trailed off. Mental wounds. That's what Vetna had been alluding to.

  She should never have mentioned the bead. But no, they'd already decided, before she'd told them about the bead. This was about her stopping the Caruso from towing the ghost ship. And then not mentioning it.

  The fact that she was telling them the truth when she said she couldn't remember was even more damning, in Hopl's eyes. She was either lying or crazy.

  And now she was going to pay for it.

  Chapter 3

  “So you're in charge of the food?” Frangi shifted on her chair, discreetly moving her leg with her hands. Then, as if remembering she didn't need to do it that way, she very deliberately lifted it and rested her ankle on her knee.

  Tally sank down into her own chair, and lifted her feet to rest on the seat opposite. She'd met Frangi as they waited for security to clear them from the Situ spaceport onto the military runner taking them to Veltos.

  The soldier guarding the entrance had ignored them as he took his time looking through their forms, and the impatience and annoyance on Frangi's face had been such an accurate reflection of Tally's own feelings, they'd immediately begun talking together like old friends.

  “I'm in charge of the food,” she confirmed. “My doctor thought it would be a positive thing for me to be in control of, given my last experience.”

  Frangi inclined her head. “You ran out of supplies?”

  Tally gave a nod.

  Frangi's lips curved. “I'm in charge of medical supplies for the same reason. Do you think they coordinate?”

  Tally smiled back. “Maybe. What happened with your medical supplies?”

  Frangi tapped her leg. “Got my leg ripped off, and it took so long to reach me, with no working med kit, they couldn't attach my old leg back. This one took two months to create, and needs to be constantly monitored to make sure it's still working and healthy.”

  “Why are they sending you on the Trail when you obviously need monitoring?” Tally was outraged on her behalf.

  “I put my hand up for it. Completing the Veltos Trail will put me fully back on the roster. Right now, my CO is playing it super safe, out of guilt. And I want to be a full member of the team again.” There was something in her eyes, a look of desperation that Tally understood only too well.

  “So you're medical, I'm food. What's left?”

  “Power, equipment and comms, I'd guess.” Frangi slumped in her own chair, put her feet on the chair next to Tally. “There's usually six in a group. Five soldiers and a guide.”

  Tally turned as the do
or opened and a man and a woman stepped inside. She pulled herself up, and dropped her feet so they could get through.

  That strange sense she got these days when she met someone new, a sort of elevated flight or fight, a hyper concentration on their faces and their body language, washed over her, and she fought it. She was always fighting it.

  She nodded at them. “I'm Tally,” she said, and gave the Raxian greeting of hands lifted, right fingers curled under left, and a slight bow.

  “I'm Soo.” The woman gave a Bodivas greeting in response.

  “Lenny.” The man with her was also from Bodivas.

  “I'm Frangi.” Frangi had taken longer to drop her feet, but Tally thought it was more due to reluctance to admit newcomers to their little group than because she was having difficulty doing it with her new leg. She gave the Kalastoni greeting.

  The sound of the engines firing as Soo and Lenny took a seat had Tally frowning. “I thought there was always a group of five?”

  “Seems like the last person is coming from Arkhor. He'll meet us on Veltos.” Lenny settled into his chair.

  “Arkhor?” Frangi asked, and Soo spread her hands, as if to say, what are you going to do?

  “Do you think they were injured in what happened at Cepi?” Lenny asked. “Wouldn't mind hearing about that.”

  “No Arkhorans were injured in the Cepi incident.” Frangi's words were cold.

  “Ah, right. You're Kalastoni. Did you see Cepi being destroyed first hand?” Lenny seemed not to notice the chill.

  “Yes. I was on one of the warships overseeing the destruction.”

  “Is that why you're here?” Lenny's gaze moved over her, as if looking for why she might be here.

  Tally was interested, too, although she could see Frangi was reluctant to answer.

  “I'm here because since we destroyed Cepi some of the weirdos who were sucked into the Calling, the cult that was created as cover to delay Cepi's destruction, have been trying to steal pieces of the ruins that are floating in space. One of them shot my leg off.” Frangi spoke through gritted teeth.

  “But I thought the Calling had been exposed as a bogus organization.” Soo leaned forward, as interested as the rest of them.

  “It was, but obviously some of the members the insurgents duped into joining were genuine believers. They think the whole thing is a huge conspiracy and cover-up. They won't go away.” Frangi massaged her thigh.

  “Full regen?” Lenny asked.

  She nodded tightly.

  “Me, too.” He lifted his arm. “I'm in engineering, but a smuggler ship came at us while I was making an outside repair, took a shot at us before they pinched to the black, and I lost my arm.”

  Frangi relaxed a little. “Giving you any trouble?”

  He made a so-so motion with his hand and they exchanged a knowing look.

  “And you?” Soo asked, and Tally gritted her teeth.

  It occurred to her she could lie. But no. There were comms about her. About what had happened. If they found out, more like when they found out, it would not look very team-oriented of her that she'd hidden her reason for being here. And maybe she would be reassessed.

  “My team and I were the ones who found that ghost ship.”

  There was silence.

  “That was you?” Frangi's voice was soft. “Stuck alone with your teammate's body on a ghost ship for two weeks?”

  She nodded, the movement tight.

  “And you were being towed by the Caruso some of the time, right?” Lenny shifted his body in her direction.

  “For a few days.”

  “Whose ship is it?” Soo had moved to the edge of her seat. “That's the big mystery.”

  “I don't know.” Tally lifted her shoulders. “But whoever they are, the former occupants were the same size and shape as us.”

  “That's what I heard.” Frangi nodded. “They're saying it could be an ancient Verdant String planet ship. From before the planets found each other.”

  Tally slouched further in her seat. “Could be.”

  “It's a real find.” Lenny was watching her with interest.

  Tally made a neutral sound.

  “So why'd the Caruso stop towing you?” Soo asked. “That seems to be a point of a great deal of speculation.”

  Tally suddenly felt a lot more friendly toward Commander Hopl. “I've been asked not to talk about it.”

  Everyone's eyes lit up with speculation.

  “What about you, Soo?” Tally asked. “Why're you here?”

  Soo gave her a look that said she knew this was a deflection. “I was bitten by a grass spider on Garmen.”

  Tally blinked at her. “You were on Garmen? I thought that clean-up was being done by the Arkhorans.” The breakaway planet of Garmen had recently been brought back into the fold as a vassal, and Arkhor, as the closest Verdant String planet, was in charge of the mess.

  “They're running things.” Soo shrugged. “But I was part of a Bodivas team sent under the Verdant String Cooperation Initiative.”

  Ah. The VSCI. The bane of almost every commander's life. A plan to more fully integrate the seven remaining military forces of the Verdant String.

  The idea was to get to know one another. To forge connections. Especially when a war with the Caruso was becoming more than just a distant possibility.

  “So, what's a grass spider?” Frangi asked. “Sounds small and harmless.”

  “Yeah.” Soo shot her a dark look. “That's what it sounds like. What it looks like is a monster about the size of my palm, with hairy green bristles sticking out of it so it resembles a clump of grass.” She shuddered. “Did I mention it's the most poisonous spider on Garmen?”

  “Where'd it bite you?” Tally asked.

  Lenny started laughing.

  Soo looked over at him, finger pointed, eyes narrowed. “Lenny, you can kiss my--”

  She cut off her sentence, and from the way Frangi hooted, she got the joke at the same time Tally did.

  Even Soo joined in with the laughter.

  Eventually.

  Chapter 4

  Ben stood outside to watch the military runner come in.

  The flare of the engine was visible because dusk had already fallen and the sky was the indigo blue that shouldn't be unique to Veltos, but somehow was. There was just something special about the color here.

  “Nervous?” Irwin stepped out to join him and looked up, following the runner as it fell toward them.

  Ben glanced at him, wondering if the guide actively worked to be this annoying, or whether it was just a gift.

  “Should I be?” He kept his tone mild.

  Irwin glanced at him, shrugged. “Most people are a little nervous to meet their fellow Trail walkers. It's a two week journey, and there's no getting away from anyone who's difficult.”

  And certainly no getting away from them if they were the guide.

  Ben crossed his arms and watched the runner touch down lightly on the hoverpad a thou away. It was close enough that he could hear the hum of the engine and the silence when it cut off.

  “So you never said which warship dropped you off.” Irwin had turned to watch the runner, too.

  “No, I didn't.” Ben kept his answer short.

  Irwin gave a snort. “Super secret, huh?”

  Ben said nothing.

  “Do you Arkhorans actively try to irritate the living shit out of the rest of us, or is it just how you're made?”

  Irwin's comment was so similar to what Ben had thought about the guide, he couldn't help the laugh that burst from him.

  “Let's leave it at 'super secret'.”

  “So you're what? Arkhoran Special Forces?”

  Ben looked at him, eyes glittering.

  Irwin raised his hands. “Whoa. The dead-eyed look. Listen, I'm leading you all through difficult terrain. If you're Special Forces, that's better for me, I have someone who can more than keep up. I just like to know my group's strengths and weaknesses. It's not like you're in enemy
territory.”

  But Irwin was lying. Ben could see it.

  The trail guide didn't think having a Special Forces officer was better for him. He didn't like it at all. His fists had clenched, the knuckles showing white.

  It was almost as if he was furious.

  And as for the other . . . this might not be enemy territory yet. But someone was trying to change that.

  That was why Ben was here.

  “Should we go help with the supplies?” Ben just made out the doors of the runner opening.

  “There's an automaton there that will load them onto a hover,” Irwin said, and turned back to the building. “I'll go check that the accommodation is in order for everyone.”

  He disappeared through the door of what was essentially a semi-permanent supply station, domed and single-story, with three rooms full of beds, a dusty lounge and a ridiculously large kitchen.

  Ben didn't like it.

  Massive trees populated large swathes of Veltos and some had been cleared to make room for the supply station, but those around the clearing had spread their branches and several had grown above the building. Leaves and twigs seem to fall incessantly onto the domed roof. He'd spent the night waking to the skitter and slide of small objects above him that sounded just like someone trying to move stealthily through the bush.

  He'd had no trouble looking like a jumpy soldier sent here to overcome some trauma this morning.

  Irwin was still suspicious of him, though.

  It hadn't helped that Ben had come early. He guessed Irwin had counted on an extra day to himself, and Ben's arrival had put a spoke in that wheel.

  His CO had stressed that they couldn't run into the runner bringing the other four members of his group from the Situ way station. It wouldn't do to land by hover, and be unable to explain where his own battle cruiser was.

  They'd know immediately from ship scans that there was no warship in near-space. And that's because Ben and his team had been on Veltos, quietly looking around, for more than a month already.

  There had been murmurs from the ethics committee about involving outside parties who didn't know what was going on, but they couldn't seed the whole Veltos Trail team with covert operatives--there was a waiting list, and they'd had to fight to get Ben on as it was.